Apologies for the very light blogging this week. In principle, I agree with Tyler Cowen that that a blog should be updated every day. I try to stick to that during the workweek (but don’t always succeed) but I was under the gun more than usual this week. So what’s been happening?
Apologies for the very light blogging this week. In principle, I agree with Tyler Cowen that that a blog should be updated every day. I try to stick to that during the workweek (but don’t always succeed) but I was under the gun more than usual this week. So what’s been happening?
Well, last weekend I saw Gran Torino, which I loved. The reviews have been somewhat mixed, and I can see why not every digs it. But this part from the WaPo review nails it, I think:
But “Gran Torino” isn’t the work of just any filmmaker. It’s a Clint Eastwood production, and as such it overcomes its only-in-the-movies conventions to exude its own undeniable, and uniquely potent, brand of authenticity. There’s a gentle, elegiac grandeur to “Gran Torino,” even at its most self-conscious and highly pitched, that befits Eastwood’s transcendent place in American culture.
Later in the week, once the Obamania had calmed down a touch, I checked in with Ian Verner Macdonald’s defamation suit against Warren Kinsella. It wrapped yesterday — The Citizen was the only paper that covered it every day; Katie Daubs did an outstanding job for us, though I think even she would admit that the sparring between Doug Christie and Warren Kinsella gave her some dynamite material to work with.
I also went to the Public Policy Forum breakfast yesterday that featured Professors Van Loon, Russell, and Juillet debating the coalition and the constitution over coffee and croissants. Kady live-blogged it; my take on things (as well as the open letter released today by the 35 academics) will appear in tomorrow’s edition of the Citizen, in the Weekend Observer pages.
Finally, this is the most interesting thing I read today — thanks to noted constitutional Democrat Norman Spector for the link:
And in a broad swipe at the Bush administration’s lawyers, Obama nullified every legal order and opinion on interrogations issued by any lawyer in the executive branch after Sept. 11, 2001.
House is back next week. Should be fun.